DR Congo's top court upholds Kabila's poll win

The Democratic Republic of Congo's top court Friday upheld President Joseph Kabila's re-election in last month's vote whose results are contested by his main rival, foreign monitors and rights groups.

Supreme court vice-president Jerome Kitoko formally declared that Kabila had won 48.95 percent of the vote against 32.33 percent for veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi at the polling stations on November 28.

The court thus confirmed the results declared on December 9 by the independent national election commission.

The rival candidates had a chance to challenge the results in the Supreme Court but few did so, amid wide concerns over the court's independence after Kabila expanded it from seven to 27 members before the election.

The European Union, the non-profit Carter Center set up by former US president Jimmy Carter and other election monitors have voiced serious concern about the credibility of the polls, citing problems in the vote count and the loss of huge numbers of ballots.

The United States said that the elections were "seriously flawed", even if it is unclear whether the "irregularities" changed the outcome.

Tshisekedi immediately rejected the result and declared himself president.

Kabila, who was catapulted to power in 1991 at the age of 30 after the assassination of his father Laurent, has said there were flaws in the elections but rejected suggestions that they lacked credibility.